Kohl retires

[Anonymous]

I thought I'd see this mentioned on this thread.

He's now saying he didn't say the things they quoted.

I didn't know it was possible to ride backwards this fast.

He'll now share the honor of suing L'Equipe with lance.

Saying " "I think that top performances in high-level sport, like in the Tour de France, are difficult to understand without doping." is not particularly compelling.

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Disgraced Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl on Wednesday vowed to sue French sport daily L'Equipe after they published an interview with him in which he spoke about doping at the 2008 Tour de France.

Kohl, who was stripped of his third-place finish and the best climber's jersey after testing positive for EPO CERA, denies claiming that the race's top 10 cyclists "could have been positive" or that it was strange that only three cyclists failed post-race drug tests.

The interview was published on Tuesday and prompted Professional Cyclists Association (CPA) president Cedric Vasseur to denounce Kohl's "serious accusations" and assert that the Austrian's claims "could not go unanswered."

Kohl on Wednesday claimed that he had really said: "I think that top performances in high-level sport, like in the Tour de France, are difficult to
understand without doping.

"It's enough to look at the Tour de France. We race for three weeks at top speeds of 40km/hour and climb the equivalent of Everest five times," he added.

The 27-year-old announced his retirement from cycling in May after being handed a two-year suspension.

 

[craig1985]

Kohl names his supplier (from the front page):

Former cyclist Hempel denies charges

Bernhard Kohl has named former pro cyclist and current triathlere Hannes Hempel as his CERA supplier. Kohl tested positive for the drug during last year’s Tour de France and was suspsended for two years. He recently announced his retirement from the sport.


Gerhard Jarosch, spokesman for the Viennese prosecutor's office, confirmed the naming to the Austrian newspaper kurier. "Bernhard Kohl acquired the EPO product CERA from Hannes Hempel on one occasion, before the Tour de France in 2008."


The charge was denied by Hempel's attorney, Herwig Hasslacher, who is an Ironman triathlete. "Hannes Hempel has never had anything to do with doping – neither acquired it nor used it nor provided it," he said on Hempel's website. He also said there was a witch-hunt after his client, "It’s to try and weaken him. Obviously athletes convicted of doping are trying to gain an advantage for themselves by blaming honest athletes like Hempel and others."

 

[Animal]

Typical squirmy lawyerspeak.

Why the hell would Kohl just pull some random name out the hat to name as his supplier? It makes no sense.

Another case of deny, deny, deny which is just going to make him look like a tw-at.

 

[tifosa]

Typical squirmy lawyerspeak.

No too far removed from typical squirmy indicted cyclistspeak.

 

[Cartesian Centaur]

No too far removed from typical squirmy indicted cyclistspeak.

+1
Reeks of "I've never tested positive."

 

[whiteboytrash]

Interesting:

Question: You’re case makes the passport sound watertight but in recent weeks Bernhard Kohl made comments about evading positive test doping since an early stage in his career. What do these comments do to the validity of the passport and the work you’ve done and continue to do?

Anne Gripper: We have made contact and he’s coming to visit the UCI in the next few weeks so he can tell us the techniques he used. You have to remember though that when he finished cycling last year we were certainly getting good information on the profile but we weren’t in a position to open a case. So the comments made by Kohl probably didn’t reflect the true situation. Look at what he said too, for instance if I were a rider who was doping I wouldn’t; rely on a few UCI tests to monitor my doping programme, I would be going into clinic every three days to monitor my doping regime. There are far more predictable ways for a ride to monitor their values than relying on a few UCI tests.

 

[elapid]

Interesting:

Question: You’re case makes the passport sound watertight but in recent weeks Bernhard Kohl made comments about evading positive test doping since an early stage in his career. What do these comments do to the validity of the passport and the work you’ve done and continue to do?

Anne Gripper: We have made contact and he’s coming to visit the UCI in the next few weeks so he can tell us the techniques he used. You have to remember though that when he finished cycling last year we were certainly getting good information on the profile but we weren’t in a position to open a case. So the comments made by Kohl probably didn’t reflect the true situation. Look at what he said too, for instance if I were a rider who was doping I wouldn’t; rely on a few UCI tests to monitor my doping programme, I would be going into clinic every three days to monitor my doping regime. There are far more predictable ways for a ride to monitor their values than relying on a few UCI tests.

Anne Gripper should be the public face of the UCI. McQuaid is just an idiot and his comments regarding Kohl reflected very poorly on the UCI and their fight against doping. Gripper's response is more appropriate from an organization that is supposedly committed to the fight against doping.

 

[BigBoat]

Anne Gripper should be the public face of the UCI. McQuaid is just an idiot and his comments regarding Kohl reflected very poorly on the UCI and their fight against doping. Gripper's response is more appropriate from an organization that is supposedly committed to the fight against doping.

What "fight against doping?" I believe Ferrari used that in one of his posts.

 

[elapid]

Agreed. All I am saying is the Gripper had sensible replies and McQuaid said completely stupid things. As a result, Gripper would represent a better face for the UCI so they don't embarass themselves everytime someone opens their mouths.

 

[BroDeal]

The UCI reminds me of a Middle Eastern dictatorship, a Latin American banana republic, or an old school communist regime. They make public statements that sound utterly ridiculous, but their leaders seem completely unaware of how little credibility they have to outsiders. They spend so much time dealing with their own brain washed citizens that they think people will believe any statement, even if it defies logic, is contradicted by facts, or lacks consistency with other statements.

 

[Bala Verde]

I wonder if we will witness some surprisingly underwhelming performances from some '(up & coming) stars' during this year's TdF. Instead of incredible achievements, we could well see incredible 'disappointments' and 'failures' when certain riders don't live up to acclaimed expectations.

Maybe the passport, and UCI's internally communicated results of suspicious values, serves as a deterrent for riders to use doping, as well as for teams to give them a final warning?

 

[krebs303]

Interesting article on the slowtwitch website.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Austria_rocked_once_again_867.html

 

[Bala Verde]

After AFDL,WADA also seems to be more receptive to what Kohl has got to say.

A good development!